Denis Hurth of the Unsa-police union told Le Figaro on Friday that France's terror threat has seen officers deployed to all the big cities of France, and that Calais as a result has been left by the wayside.

He said that only eight CRS units operate in Calais and just three squadrons of paramilitary police, which he said was hardly enough to "deal with mammoth problems of public disorder".

And despite efforts from French authorities, the situation doesn't appear to be improving.

Authorities have already cleared the southern part of the camp and added metal shipping containers kitted out with heaters, electrical sockets and cots for babies, but many migrants refused to move into the containers.

Instead, they piled into the northern stretches of the camp together with other new arrivals, creating a pressure-cooker like area that apparently seems ready to burst.

France's housing minister latest plan to ease the strain saw her announce this week that the government would create an additional 3,000 bed spaces in reception centres "before the end of September", more than doubling the current figure of 2,000.